Press Releases - 2007

NAEYC Applauds U.S. House Legislative Action to Help More Early Educators Have Parity with K-12 Teachers on Higher Education Aid

(Washington, DC) – The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) today applauded a provision in a bill approved in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday which will provide higher education loan forgiveness for early childhood educators nationwide.

The new provision in the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 (H.R. 2669), passed by the Committee on Education and Labor yesterday, is an important element in a system to help early childhood teachers obtain postsecondary education and to have parity in loan forgiveness in the same way it is currently available for K-12 teachers.

“Every young child should have a high-quality teacher, and every early childhood educator should be able to receive the education and compensation that will make it possible for them to remain in child care, Head Start or any other early childhood setting,” said Mark Ginsberg, Ph. D., Executive Director of NAEYC. “This is a positive step to begin to ensure that early childhood educators can afford higher education and remain in their chosen field.”

At the federal and state levels, there is an emerging trend towards increasing degree requirements for early childhood educators. However, most teachers in child care programs earn less than $20,000 a year, making access to higher education often beyond their reach.

"NAEYC promotes high quality early childhood educators in a variety of ways. The association develops national standards for teacher preparation programs, implements standards in the early childhood education program accreditation systems, and provides position statements that guide practitioners and policymakers to promote a high quality early education. “This loan forgiveness provision is one part of a early childhood educator professional development and career system that we need to ensure early childhood education programs can attract and keep high quality teachers,” Ginsberg said.

Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The association is the largest and most influential advocate for early care and education in the United States.